A person skilled in the art of rolling bearing technology will in general be aware that radial rolling bearings have an optimum kinematic operating state when sufficiently loaded, at which the rolling bodies roll on the raceways of the inner and of the outer bearing ring without sliding. Furthermore, in the case of radial rolling bearings which are operated on low loads at least at times, it is known that the rolling body set which comprises the rolling bodies and their bearing cage does not rotate at the kinematic rotation speed because of the friction in the bearing and because of the high mass force of the rolling body set and the contact force, which is small at times, between the rolling bodies and the raceways. In consequence, the rotation speed of the rolling body set is less than the kinematic rotation speed, as a result of which the rolling bodies are in a kinematically non-optimum state, as a result of which slip occurs between these rolling bodies and at least one raceway. In this case, a lubricating film can form on the contact surfaces between the rolling bodies and the raceway. However, the lubricating film is destroyed in the event of a sudden change in the rotation speed or load, as a result of which there is no longer an adequate lubricating film at the contact points where the slip occurs within a very short time. This results in a metallic contact between the raceway and the rolling bodies, which slide on the raceway until the rolling bodies are accelerated to the kinematic rotation speed. This large speed difference between the raceway and the rolling bodies, as well as the lack of a separating lubricating film therefore results in high tangential stresses in the surfaces of the raceway and of the rolling bodies, which are associated with very severe wear phenomena, such as roughening of the raceways, material being torn off and rubbing marks, generally in conjunction with micropitting, thus leading to premature failure of the radial rolling bearing.
A radial rolling bearing of this generic type has therefore been proposed in FR 2 479 369, which essentially comprises an outer bearing ring with an inner raceway and an inner bearing ring which is arranged coaxially with respect thereto and has an outer raceway, and also a multiplicity of cylinder rollers which roll between the bearing rings on their raceways and are held at uniform distances from one another in the circumferential direction by a bearing cage, in which a plurality of cylinder rollers which are distributed uniformly on the circumference are replaced by hollow rollers in order to avoid the described slip effect between the cylinder rollers and the bearing rings and the disadvantages which result from this. These hollow rollers, which are also axially somewhat shorter than the cylinder rollers, have a slightly larger diameter and a lower modulus of elasticity than the cylinder rollers, as a result of which, in the load-free state of the radial rolling bearing, they make continuous contact with the bearing rings and therefore ensure a continuous drive of the bearing cage and thus of the cylinder rollers at the kinematic rotation speed.
However, it has proven to be a disadvantage of radial rolling bearings which are designed in this way that the hollow rollers which are formed with a slightly larger diameter than the cylinder rollers make the assembly and disassembly of a bearing of said type considerably more difficult, or possible only with additional expenditure. This lies in the fact that the co-rotating, usually inner bearing ring of the bearing must have an outer diameter which corresponds to the distance between in each case two opposite cylinder rollers in order that, firstly, the bearing load is absorbed only by the cylinder rollers and, secondly, the hollow rollers, which are slightly larger in diameter, are provided with the preload required for the continuous drive of the bearing cage. Since the outer radius of the inner bearing ring is therefore slightly larger than the distance between the bearing longitudinal axis and the outer diameter of the hollow rollers, an assembly of the inner bearing ring as sought by the manufacturer is possible only by means of additional thermal treatment, in which the outer bearing ring is heated together with the rolling body set until the thermal expansion of the outer bearing ring, which is generated in this way, is sufficient to axially insert the inner bearing ring into the bearing. Even though, in order to avoid such an elevated level of expenditure for the manufacturer, it would be possible for the outer bearing ring with the rolling body set and for the inner bearing ring of the radial rolling bearing to be supplied as a separate assembly set, this would result in the installation of the radial rolling bearing, for example for mounting shafts in wind power transmissions, being made more complex by first placing the loose inner bearing ring onto the shaft with an interference fit, and the outer bearing ring with the rolling body set being inserted into a bore in the housing with an interference fit. The housing, together with the outer bearing ring and the rolling body set, must then be heated until the shaft with the inner bearing ring can be inserted axially into the bearing, with the preload on the hollow rollers required for the continuous drive of the bearing cage being generated as the housing and the outer bearing ring cool down. However, such a method has proven to be too complex and expensive in practice, and therefore does not meet the requirements, in the form of easy manageability and compact design, for modern slip-free radial rolling bearings.